We’ve received this piece of NCL NHS information through a third party rather than directly from NCL NHS themselves.

“NCL Vision

To improve the health of our population over the next five years compared with Londoners as a whole. In particular, we will improve health outcomes by addressing health inequalities within our population, focusing on our most deprived communities.”

As a world class commissioner of healthcare, our population will have access to more services closer to home and the highest quality hospital services.

I think it is worth pointing out why the worrying slide is so worrying – what it means is: we are not being presented with options for change at all,rather we are being presented with the clinical model to be adopted. The consultation will be about a few details within that clinical model, which are presented in the strategy plan and in this presentation as an impenetrable diagram made up of coloured triangles. The choice is take or take it.

Thought I would take a look, guess this is a waste of time thinking about the previous 10 options they presented for Chase Farm – then ignored the thousands of us who took the trouble to participate. These options refer to hospital proposals designated for the North Central London section.

OUT OF THE 7 OPTIONS FOR HOSPITAL SERVICES IN 6 HOSPITALS.

IN EACH OF THE 7 OPTIONS :

THE ROYAL FREE , ALWAYS HAS MAJOR ACUTE SERVICES

UCLH, ALWAYS HAS MULTI SPECIALIST ACUTE SERVICES

CHASE FARM , ALWAYS HAS URGENT CARE AND ELECTIVE SERVICES

NO ALTERNATIVE CHOICE IS OFFERED.

_____________________________________________

SO THE OPTIONS RELATE TO BARNET / NORTH MID/ WHITTINGTON HOSPITALS ONLY.

At all times we have to remember that the only reason we know about any of this is because of a leaked letter. If it weren’t for that letter we would still be in the dark while decisions about our health services are made behind closed doors.

Have these people forgotten who pays their wages? Have they forgotten who pays for the services? Have they forgotten that it’s *our* National Health Service?

Having fought to retain the Major 24/7 A&E, consultant led maternity and children’s services at Chase Farm, which was rejected by the trusts. The Independent Reconfiguration Panel and the Secretary of State for Health then put conditions in place.

The Panel accepted the proposals to centralize Accident and Emergency services on two sites at Barnet Hospital and North Middlesex Hospital as the most appropriate way to deliver safe, sustainable and accessible Accident and Emergency Services across the review area. This meant major services to be transferred to both of these hospitals, to be in place before they were removed from Chase Farm.

We have not seen evidence on how this would be less expensive. New buildings and extended services needed. Now however we learn not only are we to lose these vital services from Chase Farm , but the goal posts are altered yet again making the previous consultation and decisions null and void, where we are informed either Barnet or North Middlesex hospital will also lose their major services.

This is due to a decision by a North Central London Group of 12 unelected clinicians who have decided that in our sector of London only two hospitals will be dedicated to Major Acute status, one in the north and one in the south of the sector.

Swamping services come to mind, with unreasonable distances.

Then there is the Social Care proposals, the elderly classed as bed blockers in hospital, sent out into the community costs to be paid by the patient.for private sector social services.

Three options are mooted,

1) Partnership , a quarter to a third of costs covered by the NHS, you pay the rest.

2) Insurance , to top up the extra cost – the government would help to set up insurance schemes for you to pay into.

3) Comprehensive, compulsory for social care, except accommodation costs, £20,000 which could be paid in a lump sum or by instalements or taken from your pension after retirement or from your estate after death.

The latest is it might start as voluntary but develop into compulsory.

Consolidation, Fragmentation, Privatisation and Exploitation are four words that come to mind when thinking of what is happening to our NHS.
If so much money has been invested in our NHS in the past how is it there is so much debt, could it be the crippling Private Finance Initiatives (PFI) monies that have not so much been invested, but have been borrowed to prop up our previously neglected NHS estate and services, which will have to be paid back over future decades ? You might ask how wisely this borrowed money has been spent and how much it is going to cost us in the future to have polyclinics, urgent care centres and the like run by private companies?
Then there is social care farmed out to private companies to run.
As Councillor Kate Wilkinson of Save Chase Farm has said; Have we been consulted, have we had a referendum to ask if we would like to change to private sector services?
Is it any wonder that people in the other boroughs effected by the same problems are up in arms over the same proposals.
After our fight to retain the major services at Chase Farm , with marches,letters, petitions in the tens of thousands ignored. Which was followed by a referral to the Secretary of State for Health by the four local authorities of Enfield, Barnet, Haringey and Hertfordshire scrutiny committees.
An Independent Reconfiguration Panel Inquiry was called for – that had recommendations that were later endorsed by the secretary of state for health, said to centralise services on two sites at Barnet and North Middlesex as the most appropriate way to deliver safe sustainable and accessible major A&E across the Barnet, Enfield Haringey area – would only take place when the PCTs were satisfied there was adequate capacity at both hospitals and community and primary care services would be able to accommodate patient flows.
Now we are told, NHS London has selected 12 clinicians to put forward plans to reduce our major services even further ,with access even more difficult and life threatening from time consuming longer distances. Chase Farm and either Barnet or North Middlesex to lose their Major A&E, consultant led Maternity and Children’s services. Which surely makes the previous decisions for the three hospitals nul and void and ripe for a judicial review. And not content with that the same major services removed from the Whittington hospital also !

What we are fighting for

* We are opposed to the rundown, closure or privatisation of all hospitals and hospital departments and any other key health services in North London.

* We want to stop the sell-off of our NHS.

* We call for the repeal of the Health and Social Care Act - the government measure which opened the way for big private companies to take over our hospitals and health services and shut them down if they don't make enough profit.

* We call for full funding of our NHS to meet our health needs, free at the point of delivery.

* We are proud of our caring staff at the Hospital, and welcome the diversity of the staff.